by Katie Ashley
The Guardians
Krista Ashe
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2012 Krista Ashe
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First Edition: September 5, 2012
Dedication
For the guardian angels in my life: my late mother, Ginger, and my late grandmother, Virginia, for always believing in me and supporting me in my writing career. I love you and miss you daily!!
Preface
I am a watcher—a keeper of things in the realm of both seen and unseen. There are moments when I walk in human form, and others when I am cloaked in invisibility. I am drawn to pain and to suffering. I’m the comfort in the midnight hour when no one else is there. I am the unexplainable and inexplicable, like the prickly sensation that runs up a spine, causing the hairs on a neck to rise. I am a guider and protector of the Angelic Host—a member of the Guardians.
The graffiti tattooed walls of the inner city closed in around me as I, along with three of my fellow Guardians, followed close behind a mother and daughter. While they knew nothing of us, we knew every facet of their lives. The mother, who was edging towards forty, was Victoria; the fourteen-year-old daughter, and baby of the family, was Hannah. With their blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, they were mirror images of each other.
Their shoes sloshed through the dingy puddles leftover from the morning’s rain. Striding across the deserted parking lot, they were engrossed in conversation. Words like “crush” and “cutest boy in school” floated back to me. Then Victoria teased Hannah about something, causing Hannah’s face to flush the color of her red shirt. At her daughter’s visible embarrassment, Victoria nudged Hannah playfully. It brought a smile to my face
Then fear pierced me.
I felt the gang members’ pain long before they shuffled around the corner. Searing and dark, it hung around me like a cloak blocking out the May sun. Their eyes glowed amber, the hue of souls polluted by drugs and alcohol. Multicolored artwork and track marks tattooed their arms. In their animalistic state, they didn’t see the mother and daughter as people. They were simply the next fix, the next trip out of this world of pain. Gold wedding bands and glittering diamonds meant quick cash. And with their last high fading, the thugs’ bodies twitched for relief from their suffering.
But it wasn’t just the effect of drugs that clouded their judgment. No, it was a much more sinister force that held each of them in a binding grip. They were possessed by the Dark Host, the legion of demons who roamed the earth causing death and destruction.
The mortal eye would never see the voluminous black shadow that hung over the group. It crept into the spaces between them—whispering commands into their ears while wispy, skeletal-like fingers reached out to keep them under control.
All of this caused desperation to rise in my throat. I fought the urge to scream at the mother and the daughter. Why had they parked in such a place? Why weren’t they running to their car instead of ambling along, joking about who was the cutest Jonas brother and what were they going to have for dinner? I wanted to rail at them for being so naïve, so trusting. For all the little inconsequential details that altered fate.
But I couldn’t.
The line between guiding and interfering was clearly drawn, and I couldn’t cross it.
As if to reiterate that fact, Gabriel, our leader, touched my arm. I glanced into his dark brown eyes, and he shook his head. “It isn’t our fight, Elijah.”
I bowed my head as the cold truth washed over me. It was the hardest part of being a guardian—the helplessness that sometimes came from predestined events occurring. Orders given by the Thrones, or the highest levels of the angel hierarchy—those who dispensed God’s justice and authority—could not be challenged or altered. So there was nothing I could do but watch helplessly as it all spiraled towards confrontation.
At the sound of the gang’s hurried footsteps, Victoria glanced over her shoulder. I noticed the fear that flashed in her eyes and so did the gang.
“Mom?” Hannah questioned.
“Keep walking, Hannah!”
Victoria fumbled in her purse for the keys. One of the gang members cut in front of her before they could reach the car.
“Gimme your purse!” the angry teenager demanded. His clothes were ragged and dirty, and his tan skin pulled tautly over the bones in his face, illustrating how he only fed his hunger for drugs. The blackened shadow swirled around him like an out of control cyclone.
Victoria hesitated, eying the silver gleaming gun.
“I ain’t freakin’ kidding. Give us the damn purse!” She thrust the bag into his waiting hands. “And the ring.”
Torment replaced the fear. “Please, don’t! It’s my wedding ring!”
“I don’t give a shit!”
“But it—”
A single bullet tore through Victoria’s chest. As she collapsed onto the pavement, a crimson river began seeping across the dirty concrete.
“Mom!” Hannah screamed. She fell to the ground, burying her face in her mother’s lap.
A skinny guy with a greasy ponytail stared in astonishment. “Dude, what did you do?”
“Let’s go!” another cried.
As two of them turned, one spoke up. “But she’s seen us.”
“What?”
“Waste her,” the leader murmured.
At his words, Hannah snapped her head up. “NO! Please…please!”
The leader ignored her cries. As he raised his gun, Hannah shielded her face with her arms. Saving Victoria’s life had always been out of our hands—one of those predestined factors. The reason we even stood here watching the scene unfold was understanding this moment would be vital for our mission’s success. Her tragic death would be like a rock thrown into a pond, its ripples would be felt throughout the entire Thomas family. And each one of us Guardians—Gabriel, Rafe, Sophie, and I had been assigned to a member of the family.
It was then that Sophie broke away from us. Time crawled to a standstill as she stepped in front of the waiting bullet. A human might have shied away or ran while a lesser angel might’ve cringed or trembled. But not Sophie. She was a warrior Archangel, one who possessed great physical and emotional strength as well as immense courage. She had also passed the test to move up the ranks of the Angelic Host.
With steely determination, she stared into the eyes of the killer.
The gun clicked.
Over and over, he pulled the trigger. With each misfire, Hannah jerked violently. Finally, the leader dropped his arm.
The gang spooked at the sound of sirens in the distance while Sophie knelt next to Hannah.
The leader stood frozen. One of the boys shook him. “Dude, let’s go!”
His cold eyes burned down on Hannah. “Not one word. You hear me? You tell anybody about this, and we’ll hunt you down!” He waved Victoria’s wallet in front of Hannah. “We know where you live. You open your mouth to squeal, and we’ll kill you and the rest of your family!”
Hannah nodded weakly—her body shaking with uncontrollable sobs. Sophie gathered her into her arms, holding Hannah as she wept. Even though she could feel arms around her, Hannah would never remember this moment. Her mind would be wiped clean. All she would remember is something caused the gun to misfire, and something—perhaps someone—gave her comfort in those horrifying moments before help arrived.
The gang started sprinting away, but the blackened shadow hovering around them began to spin. As
it screeched and groaned, I fought the urge to cover my ears from the hideous noise. It continued swirling and spinning until it took the form of a person.
Lucius, one of the Dark Host’s demons, smirked at us. “Look what we have here.”
Gabriel stepped in front of Rafe and me. “You’ve done what you came to do. Now leave.”
Lucius arched a dark eyebrow. “I didn’t do everything.” He jabbed his finger at Hannah wrapped in Sophie’s arms. “Unfortunately, she’s still alive.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes at him. “And she’s going to stay that way. She’s my assignment, my mission. There’s nothing you can do to interfere with that, and you know it.”
An evil smile spread across Lucius’s lips. “Maybe and maybe not.”
Gabriel’s fists clenched at his sides. “You’re overstepping your bounds. Surely you must realize how unwise it would be to provoke us. Besides Elijah and Rafe, there are two warrior archangels with Sophie and me. Hardly a fair fight.”
Lucius shook his head. “Let me tell you something. This is my territory. I’ve spent a long time working on it, and it’s something that’s getting me noticed by the Dark Host. So I don’t need the four of you coming in here and screwing things up for me. You got that?”
“We may have been sent to protect and help the Thomas family, but we’re not going to turn our backs to what is going on around us. If that’s in ‘your territory’, then so be it,” Gabriel replied.
Before Lucius could argue anymore, an ambulance squealed into the parking lot with two police cruisers right behind it. He glanced at the flashing lights and back at us. “Then it begins.” And with a final smirk, he disintegrated into a swarm of black flies.
The paramedics rushed over to Victoria and Hannah. One took Victoria’s pulse before shaking his head. “She’s gone,” he said to the others. Police officers and detectives rushed around the scene, never aware of our presence. Sophie continued to keep Hannah in her embrace, even as they were escorted to a police car. As its flashing lights faded into the distance, Gabriel, Rafe, and I watched as a detective shook his head from side to side at something that littered the blood soaked ground.
Feathers.
Chapter One: ELIJAH
Scorching water pounded against my skin, enveloping my body in a curtain of steam. It felt like a cocoon of safety, and I didn’t want to leave it. Nothing about what I had to face today felt safe. No, every fiber of my being realized it had awkward and excruciating written all over it.
A girl. I had been assigned to a teenage girl.
How could this have happened? Plagues and pestilence I could believe. I’d even witnessed some of those firsthand. But being assigned to a teenage girl... impossible. Three days later, I still couldn’t resign myself to the assignment. Ultimately, I wondered if it was a mistake. The Dominion, the organization of guardian angels, must have accidentally swapped my file with someone else’s. Hadn’t I spent the last seventy years caring for dying children? After all those years in different countries and continents, one thing stayed consistent. Children.
Children didn’t care if I was freakishly tall but lacked athletic ability. They didn’t care how I always seemed to stammer from nervousness when I talked or how I turned the color of an overripe tomato when I was embarrassed. For them, I was like a hero.
But I was pretty sure in my current form and in the mindset of my new teenage peer group, I was more Clark Kent than Superman.
I jerked my head towards the Heavens for some kind of reassurance. A deafening silence reverberated back at me from the bathroom ceiling.
A gentle knock came at the door.
“Elijah?”
I shut off the water. “Yeah?”
“Breakfast is ready. Hurry on down. You don’t wanna be late for school.”
Without a reply, I stepped out of the shower. The word “school” echoed through my mind, and I cringed. I hurried into my clothes since the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint Sophie. Knowing her, she’d been up since before dawn cooking a culinary masterpiece for us.
I threw open the door to find her waiting on me. “Still upset about your new assignment?” she asked.
My jaw gaped open. As guardian angels, we had the power to tune in to human emotions but not other angels. “But how--?”
Sophie’s broad smile radiated warmth through me, sending peace tingling from the top of my head to my feet. She possessed the gift of always making people feel better. Even though my 6’3 mammoth form towered over the pint-sized 5’1 Latina, Sophie rivaled me with her internal strength.
“It’s pretty easy to read you right now, Elijah. But more than anything, I can understand why you’re upset.”
“You can?”
She nodded. “Receiving our Gideon Test is never easy, and you’ve probably been given one of the hardest ones—a teenage one.”
The mere mention of my “Gideon Test” caused my stomach to twist into knots. Gideon meant “warrior” in Hebrew, and after seventy-five years on earth, guardians were given a Gideon test to prove their emotional angelic strength. If you passed, you became a warrior Archangel like Sophie. If you didn’t, you weren’t promoted to an archangel until you worked the remaining twenty-five years of your century long service term. And it was rumored that those remaining twenty-five would be the worst you could ever imagine—maybe even worse than being stuck with a body full of raging teenage hormones and emotions.
When I noticed Sophie staring at me, I murmured, “Yeah, I guess so.”
She glanced left and right before drawing a deep breath. “Here, give me your hands.”
“Huh?”
She cocked her head at me. “Do you want to feel better or not?”
“Well, uh, yeah, of course I do.”
“This really isn’t in the rule book, Elijah, but it can’t hurt.”
I furrowed my brows. “What are you going to do?”
“When you become an archangel, you’ll no longer experience the fear like you are right now. To help you on your first day, I’m going to give you just a teeny weeny bit of that feeling.”
“But won’t we get in trouble?”
Sophie giggled. “Seriously, Elijah, in the whole vast scheme of things, don’t you think the Dominion has far too much on its plate to worry about than if I gave you a little archangel boost?”
I still didn’t feel convinced. But in spite of my doubt, I placed my hands in hers. Sophie closed her jet black eyes, and her lips began moving.
At first, the electricity felt like something nibbling at the palm of my hand. Then like a dam bursting, it surged through me. It was like climbing to the top of a mountain and looking over at breathtaking scenery.
“How’s that?” Sophie
“It’s…amazing,” I murmured, knowing I could never verbalize exactly how amazing it was.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Sophie grinned.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”
“Well, let’s just keep this between the two of us, okay?”
I nodded.
She tugged at my sleeve. “Come on. Breakfast is getting cold.”
“Okay.”
When we got downstairs to the kitchen, I slid into a chair and glanced across the table at my other “siblings”. With her long auburn hair swept away from her face in a pony-tail, Cassiel, or Cassie, absentmindedly twirled the straw in her coke. She was a fresh-faced new guardian experiencing her first mission. She had joined us after we had gotten settled in Oakdale. She wasn’t assigned to anyone in the Thomas family, so she hadn’t been with us the day Victoria had been killed.
I turned to watch Rafael, or Rafe, inhale a stack of pancakes in front of him at record speed. He paused only to shovel in some scrambled eggs. When he caught my surprised expression, he grinned. His pearly white teeth contrasted against his caramel colored skin. “Hey, I gotta reason for packin’ it in, remember?”
“Football practice,” I murmured.
“You got it, bro,” Rafe
replied, with a wink.
Even Sophie’s archangel boost hadn’t made me that hungry. I did snag a piece of manna toast and poured some honey. I guess you could call the manna and honey our “angel food”. It was what truly gave us nourishment, rather than normal food. We rarely ate a meal without at least having our honey, which was like liquid energy. It also helped to make human food taste better.
Gabriel, our other “brother” and Dominion assigned father figure, breezed into the kitchen. He was outfitted in dress pants and a tie, and his dark brown hair was slicked back. Gabriel’s youthful face masked the fact he’d spent a hundred and nine years on earth—nine years over our usual service term. I assumed it was his lengthy experience, along with his infinite wisdom, that led the Dominion to make him the leader of our group. Well, along with the fact his service had made him a member of the Principalities, the group just above archangels. It was the job of the Principalities to deliver the Dominion’s messages and wishes to the angels and archangels.
I surveyed the others around me and surmised my new “family” was going to be something of an oddity in Oakdale, an upper-class suburb of metro Atlanta. After all, you didn’t see a parentless family made up of three teenagers and two twenty something’s every day. But our latest missions certainly called for the unusual.
It wasn’t often the Dominion called together a group to pose as a family. But desperate times called for desperate measures. An entire family, the Thomas’s, was suffering after Victoria’s murder, and the easiest way to help them was to become a part of their lives. So we’d convened on a tree lined neighborhood that resembled something out of a 1950’s sitcom. For the next year, a two story colonial on a cul-de-sac that overlooked a pond would be our home.
The others were much more at ease with their assignments, so I secretly hoped that Cassie shared some of my apprehension—well at least the little bit still lurking beneath the surface after Sophie’s archangel power boost. I cleared my throat. “Are you nervous about today, too?”
